Turkish voters go to the polls this Sunday in an election that is being closely watched all over Europe. More than 40 million voters will take part in determining the complexion of the Turkish parliament for the coming four years.

Observers of the election campaign agree that the result of the elections will be a third consecutive victory for the current prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his Justice and Development party (AKP). That is why most of the public debate on the elections have focused on what kind of policies will emerge after the election and not on which party will emerge victorious. A look at these public debates shows us that the biggest issue at stake is the constitutional changes that the AKP claim they will carry out once they have won.

Erdoğan has made it clear a number of times that he wants to make major changes to the 1982 constitution. However, the details of possible changes have not been discussed by the prime minister, the only one he has referred to during the election campaign being the establishment of a form of presidential system. In what manner such a transformation might occur remains a mystery for many. Whether it will be possible to make these amendments depends entirely on the number of the AKP MPs after the election.

The AKP will need to have at least 330 MPs for any constitutional amendment to be made with a national referendum and at least 367 MPs to achieve this without a referendum. According to the latest polls it is highly unlikely that the AKP will get 367 MPs. Irrespective of the numbers, however, the constitutional amendments proposed and the manner in which they will be made show us that a democratisation challenge awaits the AKP.

Erdoğan has said that his party will not be looking to make constitutional amendments if it cannot win at least 330 seats. In other words, the AKP will not seek collaboration from other political parties, civil society members, or other interested actors in making constitutional amendments. It is this attempt to monopolise any constitutional change that alarms many in Turkey.

In a functioning democracy, how constitutional amendments are made is at least as important as the content of these amendments. Without proper and adequate deliberation among parties and without all interested parties taking part in a dialogue, no constitutional amendment will lead to the establishment of a long-standing, stable democracy. Furthermore, any monopolisation will be met with suspicion by various groups who already see the AKP as an "Islamic" political party, secretly trying to establish a religious state, irrespective of the nature of the amendments and democratisation policies. The only manner in which these shortcomings can be avoided is by not seeking to win enough seats to carry out policies without the support of other parties, but actually celebrating the presence of diversity of views and proposals on all issues, including, but not limited to, constitutional amendments.

The general elections on 12 June have the potential to bring about true democratisation in Turkey. If the AKP, irrespective of the number of seats it wins, change its approach to policy-making from one of suspiciousness towards other political parties and civil society members to a more cooperative one, Turkey will be taking the necessary steps towards democratisation, which will, without doubt, lead to the resolution of other long-standing problems in the republic, such as the Kurdish issue, minority rights, transparency in government, and so on. If not, there will be dark times ahead for a republic which is trying to become a major player in European and Middle Eastern politics.